Prison rape refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff. The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (“PREA”) was the first United States federal law passed specifically dealing with the sexual assault of prisoners. PREA requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to carry out a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape for each calendar year. PREA applies to all correctional facilities, including prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, military and Indian facilities, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. BJS's review must include, but is not limited to, the identification of common characteristics of both victims and perpetrators of prison rape, and prisons and prison systems with a high incidence of prison rape. The annual review and analysis must satisfy the following requirements: 1) be based on a random sample, or other scientifically appropriate sample, of not less than 10% of all federal, state, and county prisons, and a representative sample of municipal prisons; and include at least one prison from each state; 2) use surveys and other statistical studies of current and former inmates from a representative sample of federal, state, county, and municipal prisons; and ensure the confidentiality of each survey participant; 3) provide a list of institutions in the sample, separated into each category and ranked according to the incidence of prison rape in each institution; and 4) provide a list of any prisons in the sample that did not cooperate with the survey.
Unfortunately, even after implementation of PREA, prison rape continues to be a concern and, due to the sensitive nature of violent victimization and potential reluctance to report sexual assault, the occurrence of prison rape continues to be underestimated. As such, there continues to be a need for ways of reducing the occurrence of prison rape.